


Flip of a Coin

by Lost_to_the_Night



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, Teen Titans (Animated Series), Teen Titans - All Media Types
Genre: Jinx-centric, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Unreliable Narrator
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-19
Updated: 2019-05-05
Packaged: 2019-06-12 23:22:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15351006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lost_to_the_Night/pseuds/Lost_to_the_Night
Summary: Jinx was bad luck. Destruction was her birthright, and death was her legacy. She was a monster, after all. No matter what these... 'half-bloods' had to say about that.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you like.

The breath left Jinx’s lungs as she was slammed into the ground, harder than a single stolen necklace should have warranted. Her pink eyes glittered with tears she would not let fall. It was not the pain that made them appear. It was not even the fact that she had just probably lost her ticket to a meal today.

This was what she was reduced to. Petty theft to get by. 

Jinx gritted her teeth as she pulled herself to her feet, balling her fists up to face the Teen Titans. Their moronic leader, Robin, stood at the front of their little posse, hands on his hips, looking oh-so smug. “Give up, Jinx?” he asked with a hint of a smirk on his lips, as if he had already won. As if she did not have pink fire racing through her veins and fight beating in her heart. 

“Not a chance, traffic lights,” Jinx shot back, hiding her tired state behind snark. From the way Beastboy grinned and elbowed Cyborg, she must have succeeded. “Bring it.” Her gray hands lit up with pink magic. 

“Titans, go!”

Five against one was not a fair fight, even to a witch of Jinx’s caliber. Even if the teens might have been holding back somewhat, do to respect for a former friend.

For a group of teens, they showed no mercy. Jinx was hit by a rhino at full speed, the horn piercing through her dress as if the hardy material was nothing but plain cotton. Sonic blasts tossed her like a ragdoll and starbolts burned her skin. 

Whatever. She knew that children were cruel, cruel creatures. 

Jinx spun, sending a wave of magic towards the ground, cracking the road and forcing her former friends to retreat. She herself ran down the street, searching for an escape. Two feet slammed squarely into her back, sending her forward, headfirst. Tucking herself into a ball, Jinx allowed the momentum to carry her for a second, before stretching her arms and legs out into a series of acrobatic flips. 

“I’d say that was impressive, but it really wasn’t,” Robin taunted from a ledge. He sprung from the sill in demonstration, showing off his quick moves while cutting off her escape. Jinx backed away. 

Remembering she had the rest of the team, Jinx spun around, seeing Beastboy and Cyborg on either side of the road. Starfire was in the air between them, emerald eyes glowing with power. Sensing dark energy in the air, Jinx risked a glance to the right, spotting Raven floating above a shop. She was surrounded. 

“Stand down, Jinx,” Robin ordered. “We have to talk about your... recent activities.”

“Oh, this?” Jinx said challengingly. She held out her hand, the diamond necklace glittering on it. “Want it? You can have it!” She fisted her hand, pulling it back behind her ear. When she tossed it forward, it was glowing pink with her hex magic, ricocheting towards Batman’s sidekick at dangerous speeds. Boy Wonder distracted by the cursed object, Jinx charged in his direction, aiming for the opening his divided attention provided. 

She did not make it far before she was hit by a car covered in black energy. Jinx went tumbling through the air, hitting the pavement with a force that would have been fatal to baseline humans. She rolled for at least twenty more meters down the road, cuts and bruises accumulating over her skin. Jinx would be surprised if there was a single unmarked inch of skin left on her after this.

Jinx tried to push herself off the ground, but her arms trembled and gave out under her. Jinx laid prone on the ground, not sure if she had the strength to pull herself up again, not sure if it was  _ worth it  _ to put herself back together. 

What did she have left? She turned her back on H.I.V.E. The other villains would not take her back after her time as a hero. The heroes themselves saw her as a joke. 

Who was she joking? 

Like her mother told her, she would never amount to anything. She was a freak of nature, an abomination that should have been destroyed.

Jinx was death, destruction, and chaos. She would not get a home, because she did not  _ deserve  _ one. 

A monster deserves nothing but a monster’s death.

With new resolve, Jinx slowly lifted her head up, eyes fixed unwaveringly on the five already-cheering teens that took her down. Well, four cheering teens. The cyborg and the little green changeling were exchanging gleeful fistbumps. Batman’s sidekick and his alien girlfriend were standing a little too close to each other. The demonling, though, she was looking at Jinx. 

Determined pink eyes met pure onyx.

First came understanding, then horror. 

“Jinx, stop!” The urgency in the purple-haired teen’s voice cut the celebrations short.

“Raven?” Robin asked.

“Get everyone out of here!” Raven said frantically.

“Titans, go!” the leader ordered as the team scattered to remove innocent civilians. “Raven, what’s happening?”

“Jinx, you have to stop, you have to- Run!” the demonling screamed out, cutting off her previous words in a shout of warning. Black shields raised in preparation, but for once, they were no match for Jinx, bending and breaking under her power.

Jinx combusted in a explosion of magenta. Fuschia shockwaves blasted throughout the entire block, shattering windows, tearing up pavement, and frying electronics. Though it was not apparent at that time, the witch’s last act had further-reaching effects. Even at distances over a mile away, reports would come in of cracked windshields and fallen trees. An electrical outage covered almost the entirety of Jump City.

At ground zero, however, a cloaked sorcerer floated down to stand in front of a crater. She picked up a black platform boot, all that remained of a once-powerful villain, and looked up, wondering if there was something - anything - that they could have done.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is from Jinx's point of view. She can be an unreliable narrator at times. Maybe the Titans were actually 'cruel' and lured her away from the dark side, only to betray her. Or maybe they were celebrating because she ran away because of a misunderstanding, and they were glad to finally pin their teammate down. You choose, because I don't care.
> 
> That aside, have you guys seen the Titans fight? Dude, those attacks would probably kill me! Ouch, control your powers a bit on poor, poor Jinx!


	2. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...Okay, this chapter probably would have been a better prologue than the one I used. It's less controversial, for one. Really, though - have you watched Teen Titans? Kids, both heroes and villains alike, are thrown into concrete and metal with enough force to kill them. Cracks appear on F-ing concrete and metal DENTS.

There was a someone outside their window. Now, usually that would not be a problem.

Usually, that is.

Sure, lots of people probably have streets right outside their houses, with people walking back and forth. The thing was, well… their apartment was on the second floor. Plus, the fire escape was outside their mom's room. There really should not be a person out in front of the window.

"Travis, wake up!" Connor said, turning around on their shared bed to shake his older brother. He peered down at his big brother's sleeping face. "Trav, there's someone outside!"

The older Stoll sibling was still sleeping, despite the wailing of police sirens somewhere around the block. "Mmm, tell'm t' go 'way," Travis muttered, turning away and covering his head with their blanket. After a moment, Connor realized that his brother had gone back to sleep. As terrific of a brother Travis Stoll could be in his waking moments, he was a downright terrible brother at night.

"Trav!" Connor said, stomping his foot on the mattress and making the whole bed frame creak.

No response from his brother.

Connor peeked at the window, but only heard muffled scrapes. He crawled to the edge of bed and looked down at the floor. Travis had told him that monsters did not really hide under beds, that they just walked around like normal people, but Connor did not know if he should believe him. Travis always played tricks. Plus, the place under the bed was a really good hiding spot.

Maybe this was a bad idea. It was just the wind, right? Or a cat?

As if to prove him wrong, a small, stealthy figure hauled itself onto their windowsill. It paused there for a moment, then turned and launched itself off to the right.

Connor leapted far from the bed - he landed almost four feet away! Quick, like how Travis always taught him to be, Connor glanced under the bed. There were no monsters.

Looking around the room one last time, Connor crept towards the window, stepping around that one board that always creaked. Unable to see anything but a police car down the street, the younger Stoll brother opened the window, cringing at the loud sound, and leaned out. He looked to the right, at the fire escape platform in front of his mother's window.

Empty.

His senses were tingling, though. Whoever - whatever - it was, was still there. And it was watching him.

Something alerted him to movement above, a sixth sense he shared with his brother, and the seven-year-old Stoll's head snapped up. Cast in shadow, a small, child-like figure was perched on the railing of the fire escape, a little above the fourth floor.

As dark as it was outside, Connor could not make out the figure's face. He did not know who it could be. What he did know was that whoever it was should not be up there. From the way other's head was turned downwards, Conner guessed that the person was looking at him.

"You're gonna fall," Connor warned.

The other's head tilted consideringly. Just when Connor thought that he or she would not answer, the other spoke. "Am not. 'M not gonna defeated by a ladder," the other spoke fiercely, though careful to keep a low volume. As he had thought, it was a kid, but Conner could not tell from the voice alone if he was looking at a boy or a girl.

"What's your name?" Conner asked curiously, leaning even further out the window.

The other kid snorted. "Wouldn't 'cha like to know?" A little foot wriggled tauntingly at Conner.

Connor frowned at the kid, not liking the tone. He grabbed onto the side of the of the window and looked at the distance between him and the fire escape. It was far, further than he had ever tried jumping before.

"You're gonna fall," the figure sang mockingly, repeating his earlier warning. There was a pause as Connor reconsidered the fire escape and the person up there reconsidered Connor. "No, really. You're gonna fall. You're not like me."

"Are too," Connor disagreed with a smirk.

And with that, he pushed off the wall and leapt with all his might.

It seemed like time was slowing down, to Connor. The air was pulling his giant T-shirt back, but he was still traveling forward. His hands reached out to grab onto the fire escape. It was growing closer, and closer… Then, he started going down.

He was not going to make it.

There was a deafening bang from somewhere above him, and the air was knocked out of Connor's lungs as he was hit by someone smaller than him. A moment later, Connor saw stars as his head and what felt like half his body hit cold metal.

A small, pale hand covered his mouth. "Shhh!" the kid hissed. Connor smothered the urge to wail and they waited.

"Who dun it now? Who gone and dun it now?" a woman yelled out with a thick accent.

"Shut up, Agta! Bet'cha dey yo' brats!" someone, this time a man, hollered back at her. Something broke somewhere to the left and below them. In Connor's imagination, it was a ceramic plate or mug of some sort

"My kids? You blamin' my kids?" the woman responded hotly. "Y'know what I thinkin'? I thinkin' yo' kids been-"

"Shaddup!" A third voice joined the argument. "Y'all shaddup 'less you wanna call the cop up 'gain?"

There were a few grumbles, but the voices subsided. The hand covering his mouth was removed and Connor turned his head to see who it was.

It was a girl. It was too dark to see the color of her eyes, but even in the dark night, her skin was so pale that she almost glowed. Her clothes were ripped and ragged and she was scrappy, a true child of the streets. He then looked up.

Somehow, the girl had caused the railing to break. It was hanging off of the stairs between the third and fourth platforms. The girl had held onto the railing, catching him while holding onto it. She had an arm looped around one of the bars, leaning casually against it as if it was just a ladder.

"Told you you'd fall."

"I didn't," Connor retorted. She flinched at the loud noise, so Connor tried again. "I didn't fall," he argued in a whisper.

"You missed," she pointed out, turning and climbing up. The railing swayed when she got off it.

"I missed, but I didn't fall," Connor insisted, following her up onto the platform of the fire escape. The metal railing creaked as he left it, clanging and hitting something above. He peered inside the window and was glad to see that his mom was still in bed, back facing the window. Loud noises happened a lot at night, so they were all used to it.

He turned back to the girl. "My name's Connor. What's yours?" He looked around, but she was not there anymore.

"Why should I tell you? You're not supposed to tell strangers your name, idiot." Connor looked up. She scowled back down at him. Connor ran up the stairs to where she was, just in time to see her stuff some jewelry inside a little black bag. With wide eyes, Conner looked back down at the police cars, then back at the bag. She glared and hid it behind herself. "Well?" she demanded. "Going to tell the police? They're not going to catch me."

"Breaking the rules is fun," Conner said, shrugging. "Like, we're not supposed to be up here, and I'm not supposed to jump out of the window, and you're not supposed to break the fire escape. We gotta keep them in case the police or the monsters come and we gotta run out of the house," Connor told her solemnly, parroting the words Travis told him.

The girl turned to stare at him. The tips of her mouth twisted, and Conner wondered if he was supposed to be afraid. It was the middle of the night, they were really high, and no one knew where he was. Plus, the strange girl could break fire escapes.

Not blinking, the girl slowly smiled at him. "You know, I change my mind. You're not like me, but you're exactly like the type of people I hang out with. I think we're going to be great friends." With the police lights hitting them, her eyes seemed somewhere between red, pink, or purple. "My name is Jinx."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not planning to stop writing, but if I don't put out another chapter again, hurricane Flo' got me. Just so you know.


	3. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. I should really be working on OISAMOW, but a lot of people on Discord were all about Percy Jackson and, as always, I got swept up in the hype. So... YOLO!
> 
> Chapter edited by Storm, a Discord dude.

 

As much as Connor would like to claim that Jinx’s influence made them better people, that would be a lie; lying was apparently wrong, but Connor had never been a stickler for rules and he wasn't planning to change that now.

Laws just happened to be another particular sect of rules he didn’t follow. In this case, it was laws regarding stealing.

“Hurry, hurry, hurry!” Travis huffed frantically, sending a exhilarated grin at Connor as they ran through the dingy alley. Hearing another pair of feet pounding after them, Connor pushed himself to go faster. His throat was going dry and he was starting to pant with the effort. Still, his older brother reached the chain link fence before he did, squeezing through the tiny hole at the bottom.

“Come back here, you thieves!” the angry shopkeeper shouted, swinging a baseball bat at them like he was imagining hitting a homerun with their heads instead of the ball. Yeah, not likely. Connor liked his face the way it was, thank you very much.

Travis pulled the edges back, widening the hole for Connor to dive through. They both turned in unison to smirk at the shopkeeper, stuck on the other side of the fence. He looked up at the top of the fence as if considering whether or not to clamber over, but the bits of barbed wire that were haphazardly pulled over the top were enough of a deterrent to stop him. Still wanting the last word, the furious man cracked his baseball bat against the fence several times, making a racket. Startled, the two young Stoll brothers fell on their behinds.

“Come back to the shop! I _dare_ you to. I’ll beat your heads in, I will!” the man raged. He grabbed the fence, shaking it. “Ya hear me?”

Connor stared at the man, stunned. He turned his wide eyes to his older brother. “It was just some candy!”

Travis shushed him. “He’s not gonna beat our heads in,” Travis said confidently. “If he did that, he’d go to jail! Plus, he can’t catch us anyway!”

Hearing this, the shopkeeper started yelling again, with lots of swearing included this time. The two brothers yelped and ran out of the alley, away from the man. They didn’t stop until they were roughly six blocks away, taking a winding path through back alleys and over low walls to make sure they weren’t followed.

Travis kept looking around at the side alleys and rooftops to make sure Jinx didn’t see them running from the shopkeeper. If she knew that the guy had caught them stealing, she’d complain about it for _weeks_. She always thought they were better than they actually were, and when they failed to reach her expectations, Jinx will make them practice over and over, until it was almost automatic. When Travis couldn’t unlock a security vault, Jinx had gotten one to practice on. By the time they finished working on it, Connor was had dreams of picking locks. _Dreams_. That was how hard she made them practice.

A couple of other street kids looked up in interest as the two raced by, but the older kids apparently thought that two scrawny younger kids probably didn’t have much to offer. Either that or because they had been threatened by Jinx.

Reaching their destination, the two boys shoved a trash can under an escape ladder. Travis went first, clambering onto the trashcan while Connor held it steady. The elder brother jumped up to catch the first rung of the escape ladder. Connor climbed up on the trash can himself, careful to keep his balance. He held Travis’s legs and gave him a boost to help him pull himself up on the ladder.

There was quiet shuffling, then a ratty rope dangled down. Connor climbed up, then pulled the rope up and wrapped it neatly around a pole, not bothering to untie it. Travis peered down at him and Connor nodded, the two of them climbing up to the roof.

As always, Jinx had arrived first. She was sitting cross legged in the shadow of the small shed, picking through a small pile of loot. Connor eyed it appreciatively as he and Travis pulled candy and granola bars out of the multiple hidden pockets that Jinx had sewed onto their jackets. Their combined pile was bigger than Jinx’s, but just barely.

Jinx saw this too and gave them a look that said clearly ‘is that all?’ before combining their piles, picking out everyone’s favorites and redistributing them. Her pile was the biggest of them all, but Connor kind of expected that. It had to be hard to live on your own. He and Travis lived with their mom, but they _still_ didn’t have a lot to eat. Not having a mom would be a lot harder, though.

Jinx was a really weird, even for a girl. She always wore long sleeves, even on the hottest days. She was pale because she didn’t like the sun and she didn’t have any other friends. She wasn’t giggly or girly like the girls in school, and that was a good thing. If Jinx made them dress up or play pretend, Connor would’ve ran away and never looked back.

She was tougher than the girls at school too. When they were younger, Jinx had taught Connor and Travis how to steal and pick locks, how to act cute and have adults not suspect them. Now that they were all older, Jinx taught them how to _win_. Whenever they ran into trouble on the streets, she would come and back them up. When she was by their side, they never lost. No one bullied them at school anymore, and Connor knew it was because of Jinx. She was their good luck charm.

“Hey, that’s mine!” Connor yelled when Jinx grabbed his mini marshmallow pack. “You don’t even _like_ them!”

“Come get them, then,” Jinx said, standing up.

Connor lunged forward, then hopped to jump over her leg-sweep. It was one of her favorite moves, and she always did it at least once a fight. He tried to punch her, but she flipped away. Connor ran forward, then dodged back when she started to kick and punch. None of them hit him.

“You’re getting better,” Jinx said. Connor grinned, then leapt for her, one fist swinging in a feint attack. He anticipated where she would move to avoid it, reaching out with his other hand to grab his marshmallows.

A hand grabbed his forearm, and his world _spun_.

The next thing Connor knew, he was staring at the cloudy sky and his head and back hurt _a lot_. “Ow,” Connor whined. His head had landed perfectly on Travis’s pile of candy, not on the concrete, but Travis’s face looked very annoyed. Whoops.

“So, Travis,” Jinx said. “What did he do wrong?”

“Er… he got distracted?” Travis said hesitantly.

“Are you asking me or telling me?” Jinx snapped. “You have to act confident. If you sound like you’re certain, then people  are more likely to believe you.”

Travis straightened up like a puppet on a string. “When you complimented him, he got distracted and overconfident,” Travis declared.

Jinx crossed her arms. “Better. In a fight, an opponent might use insults or flattery to shake your confidence or distract you. If you fall for it, you could lose.”

Connor rolled over and crawled to his brother. “What’s flattery?” he whispered.

Travis shrugged. “Maybe it means being nice.”

“Your turn,” Jinx said sweetly.

“Uh-oh,” Connor said. He gathered all his candy and moved them to the side. If Travis had to fall, he could fall on his own candy. As he watched, Travis jumped from one foot to the other like a karate guy from a low-budget movie.

Giving him an unimpressed look, Jinx marched up to the older Stoll brother and proceeded to beat him up. He was down in less than ten seconds.

Once Travis hit the dust, Jinx beckoned Connor up. “Again.”

“But I just went!” Connor protested. He gave Travis a nasty look for losing so quickly.

“Don’t care.”

What followed was one of the most grueling training sessions yet. Connor knew his limits. By tomorrow, both he and Travis would be covered in bruises. Sometimes, their breaks lasted less than a minute. Once she got bored of her Stoll punching bags, Jinx had them practice their flips and kicks, some Connor was sure she made up. There was no way normal people did this.

“You’re going to be glad you know how to do this,” Jinx scolded them as she paused the fight so she could tie up her hair again. The pink ribbons she used to tie her black hair into two ponytails had gone loose. Connor wasn’t sure why she didn’t just use hair ties like all the other girls. Ribbons didn’t seem to work half as well.

“Yeah, but I’m going to faint right now,” Travis said.

Jinx looked at Travis with a frown. She opened her mouth to say something, then stopped. “Five minutes.” She turned and walked to the edge of the building, sitting down and looking out across the city.

Connor watched her sitting alone there. “Do you think Jinx is lonely?” he asked, opening a bag of M&M’s.

Travis stopped pouring salted peanuts into his mouth to look at their friend. “No,” he said. “We asked her to come home with us, remember? She said no. That means she’s not lonely.”

“Are you sure?” Connor said.

Travis thought. “Yeah,” he said with a nod. The two boys shared their loot quietly.

“Can I have some more of your peanuts?” Connor asked. “I want to give them to Peter. I think it’s his birthday next week.”

As a new student, Peter was even more friendless than Jinx. The fact that he walked funny and was caught eating a spoon made him even more of a target for bullies. Connor was one of the only ones that talked to Peter every day. He made sure to always say hello and goodbye. They weren’t friends, but Connor knew how it felt to be alone. At least he had Travis and Jinx.

“The new kid in your class?” Travis grumbled, but he gave Connor one of the more smashed packets.

“Thanks,” Connor said.

The two looked up as a shadow fell over them. The Stolls groaned, knowing that their break was over.

“Get up. I’m going to teach you pickpocketing,” Jinx said. She sniffed. “You obviously need the lessons, if you were almost caught by a cashier.”

~*~

Third grade was the bane of little Connor Stoll’s existence. Dyslexia and ADHD made it hard to concentrate, even when he really wanted to. Sometimes, there was really interesting things for him to learn, like science. Menos and Coke were a fun experiment that he was going to go keep in mind. Y’know, just in case? But, yeah, school was the bane of his existence. Plus, his brother wasn’t in his class and Jinx rarely snuck into the playground. Simply put, school was hard and boring.

Checking to make sure Sasha and her friends weren’t in the room, Connor walked in and hung his jacket on hook #17. He pulled out his notebook and pencil, sliding it across the tables. It hit Peter’s elbow, and the other boy looked up.

“Hi, Peter,” Connor said. He pretended he wasn’t looking at Peter’s arm. It was big. Peter was as big as a fifth grader and about as strong, too, but he never stood up for himself, even when David or some of the other kids picked on him.

Peter sniffed, then looked at Connor with wide eyes. “A-are you o-okay?” he stuttered.

“Yeah,” Connor said, frowning. He picked up his folder and walked away, choosing to sit on the other side of the room from Peter. Peter always did that on days after Travis and Connor went to that rooftop. Maybe it was the trash there, or maybe it was the smell of beer from the bar on the first floor of the building. Peter would hover near Connor and sniff the air. It made him uncomfortable, but Connor didn’t want to bring it up. Instead, he avoided Peter on days he was acting like a weirdo.

Connor opened his notebook and tried to study for the spelling test they were going to have, even though he knew it was useless.

He jumped as someone flicked his ear, turning around to see Sasha and her friends. Connor glared and covered his ear. “Why’d you do that?”

“Ooooh, does it bother you?” Sasha crooned. She grinned a white-toothed smile at Connor’s response and reached out to flick his ear again.

“I’m not afraid to punch a girl,” Connor said, eyeing the teacher and wondering why she wasn’t intervening. In fact, the only person who was looking their way was Peter, who was white as a sheet and trembling.

“You’d hit a defenseless little girl?” Sasha said, pouting and making her eyes big.

“You’re a meanie!” one of Sasha’s friend said.

“Connor said he’d hit a girl!” the other one announced to the rest of the class.

“It’s not like that!” Connor protested. He’d hit _Sasha_ , not the other girls. He had seen Sasha flip a _fifth grader_ once.

Two loud claps made them look to the front of the room. “Settle down, class,” Mrs. Rother said. “Connor, no hitting classmates. You have five minutes before the quiz starts. I hope you studied. If not, make the most of this time.” She looked at Connor as if she suspected he was one of the ones who didn’t study.

Sasha’s friends ran to their table. Looks like _they_ didn’t study. “You know what? I’m _hungry_ ,” Sasha said.

“Sorry, but I didn’t pack my lunch today,” Connor lied, hand going to his pocket. “Even if I did, I’m not sharing. Go ask David or someone.” He opened his folder and pretended to start reading.

“Don’t worry, I know what you can—” Sasha stopped, then sniffed. She turned towards Connor and sniffed again, a look of confusion on her face. “You smell different,” she said.

“What are you doing, Sash? Are you becoming _Peter_ now?” said another classmate, sticking her nose in the air.

Sasha didn’t answer, just standing there and staring at Connor instead, her nose wrinkled. Connor shifted uneasily and looked at the teacher, who decided to start the class. Connor let out a sigh of relief when Sasha went and sat down. Discreetly, he lowered his head to his sleeve and tried to smell it. It didn’t smell much like anything.

Connor looked to the side as he heard a grinding sound. Peter scooted his chair over. “I have to talk to you after class. It’s important,” he said.

“Time’s up. Put away your notes, and I better not hear any talking,” Mrs. Rother said, passing out the quizzes.

“No thanks,” Connor whispered as he closed his folder and pushed it to the corner of the table, side-eyeing Peter. With the amount of people sniffing him, all he wanted to do was run home and take a shower.

“No, you _have to_ listen to me,” Peter insisted loudly.

“See me after class, Mr. Springfield,” the teacher said tartly.

.~*~.

As the class trooped down to the cafeteria, Connor veered off to catch Travis as his class returned from gym. “Code stray dog,” he muttered. It was code for ‘creeper trying to follow me’.

“Plan breakaway,” Travis said. It was pretty much ‘wait and run’.

As soon as school ended, the teacher took Peter aside. Connor immediately ran for the door, hopping over David’s outstretched leg and avoiding Sasha’s hands when she tried to grab him. He met Travis at the back exit, and they pushed out the door and into the sunlight.

“Who’s following you, David?” Travis asked, frown on his face as they started jogging away. “If you want, we can tag-team him. He might be big, but there’s no way he can stand up to the might of the Stoll brothers!”

Connor grinned. Nothing could stand up to their double threat. Except for Jinx, of course. “As cool as that’d be, it’s actually Peter.”

“The sniffer?” Travis asked. “Why are we running? I mean, he can’t run, so what’s the rush?”

“IDK. You’re the one who started running.” They slowed down. “He was sniffing me again. Do I smell funny? ‘Cause he wasn’t the only one.”

Travis sniffed, then shrugged with a worried look. “You smell normal to me. Do you think I’m smelly and that’s why I can’t smell it either?”

“I don’t smell anything. Do you think your classmates smelled it?”

The two walked a couple steps in contemplative silence.

Travis nudged Connor and nodded to a businessman who was walking in the same direction they were. “You thinking what I’m thinking?”

Connor smirked. Yes, he definitely was. He brushed past the business man, going down a side alley. Travis was just seconds behind him. Connor held up a leather wallet triumphantly. The cards were useless, but they picked out almost thirty dollars in bills and spare change. Connor found a couple of teenagers camping out by some dumpsters and tossed the wallet at them. “If you find a way to scam the system, have fun,” he said.

Not to be outdone, Travis led them into several shops and they discreetly stuffed candy into their jackets when the workers weren’t looking. While a cashier was busy trying to calm a hysterical daughter, Travis helped himself to the contents of the cash register, raising their total up to almost seventy dollars.

The two brothers shared a high five as they strolled down the sidewalk, feeling like kings. They slipped chocolate bars into the backpacks of kindergarteners and lollipops to toddlers, highly lords stooping down to assist peasants.

Meanwhile, those older than them received nothing but trash. The smoker they found by the bar had cigarette stubs dropped into the hood of his hoodies. They ran into some school bullies walking home from school, and Connor snuck rocks and handfuls of dirt into the the guys’ backpacks while Travis put bugs into some of the girls’. They weren’t caught.

They collected the trash and half-eaten salad bowls that a pair of teenage girls left behind and followed them into some store filled with too much pink. At the right time, they stuffed the litter into the respective girls’ purses, not bothering to close the lids and letting the oily foods spill freely out.

“Run!” Travis yelled when the girls spun around to see them.

Twin screeches followed them out of the store and into the sidewalk. The Stoll brothers shared a high-five and sprinted down the street, baffled pedestrians stepping aside for the wild-haired boys to run past.

“Was that a little mean?” Connor asked. He had seen the price tags of purses when they went with their mom to go shopping. Their mom would stare longingly at the bags, then shake her head and walk away. Travis wanted to buy one for his mom, but there was no way they could afford them. Some of them could cost hundreds of dollars.

Travis shook his head. “They hurt the environment. They deserve it! Plus, the environment cost more to clean up, like, millions or something! All _they_ have to do is wipe it off with napkins.”

Connor thought about it, then nodded. It made sense. Jinx had taught them a lot about fair play, and if the girls wanted to litter, then they deserved to have the litter in the bags.

Travis held up a stone. “New target, here I come!” He walked over to a guy with a head of curly brown hair.

Connor’s eyes widened as he saw the limp and the beat-up backpack. He ran after his older brother. Connor grabbed Travis as soon as he was in reach, pulling him behind the tree. “Dude, that’s Peter!”

Travis blinked. “Peter Springfield, your weird, sniffing classmate?” He peered out from behind the tree. “You weren’t kidding.”

Connor looked through the trees to see Peter turning in a slow circle, his nose in the air. Even from where they were, the Stoll brothers could hear him sniffing. “Of course not. As if I’d lie to my own brother!” Connor said, clutching his chest at where he thought the heart was.

“No, really. That’s not normal,” Travis said. “What the heck? Look.”

Peter was facing their direction, slowly shuffling forward, sniffing the entire way.

The brothers shared an alarmed look.

“Is he…” Travis swallowed.

“I think…”

Their mother’s words echoed in Connor’s mind. _‘Your father… he is a powerful man. Because of that, monsters will try to harm you. Not people, monsters. They might look like people, but they can smell you, sniff you out. If they do, run.’_

Travis reached the same thought at the same time as Connor did. They shared a glance.

_Run._

Keeping low to the ground, they ran in a straight line in the opposite direction from Peter. They slipped into the first side alley they found, following it down. Travis grabbed the wrist of the first street kid they ran into. “Jinx. Same meeting point,” he said clearly.

The kid’s eyes widened and he gave a short nod before scampering off.

Despite the situation, Conner couldn’t help but grin. It really paid to have Jinx as a friend. All the street kids and street teens respected her. She taught them how not to get caught and pulled them out of risky situations. If someone was getting beat up by a gang or some old guy with a knife, you went and got Jinx.

It almost seemed like she was invincible.

In return, all the street kids were willing to stand up for her, and that protection spread to Connor and Travis. Like how a few kids discreetly got in the way of the cashier guy yesterday, when he and Connor were running away from him. Or how they never tattled on Jinx or the Stolls when police and angry shop owners swept through the streets looking for them. They even redirected them in the wrong directions, sometimes. They were alway happy to help in any way they could, no matter how little.

Like now.

It was a system Jinx had worked hard to perfect. The grubby little boy would find others, telling them that the Stolls were looking for Jinx, those kids would tell others, and they would scour their areas of the city for Jinx. Jinx had trained them to do it in small, controlled situations as a game, giving out candy as prizes to those who found her first.

Now, it served as a way to fetch Jinx if there was an emergency or whenever anyone was in danger. Right now was both.

They made their way to the rooftop that they claimed as theirs. On the way, Connor pulled out a long fire poker out of a crack in a wall. Travis reached behind a pile of trash that had been there for over six months.

It was another thing that Jinx had been insistent on—always keeping a backup. Little caches of weapons and food were now hidden around the city. One could be found every few blocks.

Conner had never been more grateful for Jinx’s paranoia.

The two climbed onto the rooftop faster than they had ever done before. Like Travis had suspected, Jinx wasn’t there.

Connor was glad to have Travis as a brother. He wouldn’t have guessed that Jinx wouldn’t be there, not until he actually climbed onto the roof.

“Jinx!” Connor yelled. Travis echoed him, yelling their friend’s name out into the rooftops. “Jinx, help!”

Connor twisted around, scanning the rooftops and the streets below. He half-expected to see Peter staring at them from one of the windows of the building next to them or suddenly stepping out of the shadows.

Peter could probably hear them, but no one knew the city like Jinx. Connor had more than enough faith in Jinx to believe that she would find them first. Peter might be a monster, but no one was scarier than Jinx. Jinx would protect them.

It was probably odd that they thought Peter was a monster. After all, most kids stopped believing in monsters at their age. They were more worried about being popular in school and getting the last piece of pizza in the box.

Connor and Travis, though?

Their mom was insistent that monsters existed, and not just those you’d see on the news. It didn’t help that strange things followed the Stoll brothers, and sometimes literally.

When Connor was in kindergarten, there was a giant dog that kept attacking him. The police and animal control were called in, but it paid them no mind, blowing off the multiple tranquilizers and bullets to mindlessly attack the doors of the classroom Connor had barricaded himself in. It eventually turned around and chased some baton-wielding girl out into the streets. No one knew the girl—she didn’t attend the school. Conner had been expelled because they thought he “antagonized the dog.”

Just a month before that, some hunched old woman had shadowed the two brothers until their mother bundled them into a small shop. She had instructed them to hide by the perfume bottles while she stood determinedly at the door, one hand in her purse. They had stayed there for over an hour before their mom decided they were safe.

Not to mention that creepy pair of Siamese twins that out-creeped Connor and Travis when they actually _tried_ to be creepy. That was… Connor didn’t like remembering that day.

“Jinx!” Travis yelled one last time.

The brothers turned their eyes to each other in worry. It had been about ten minutes since they started, yet Jinx still hadn’t appeared. It never took her longer than a couple minutes, no matter how late they visited at night.

“Do you think Peter got her?” Connor asked. They had seen Jinx beat up men triple their age. Once, she even went up against six gangsters. But maybe… If Peter _really_ was a monster… Maybe he was stronger.

Travis stared in the direction they came from. “No,” he said shaking his head. “I mean, the monsters are after _us_. Why would he hurt Jinx? He doesn’t even know about Jinx.”

“Maybe we should go home,” Connor said. Their mom was pretty strong too. Plus, she was an adult. She’d know what to do.

Travis nodded, looking over the city. “Yeah, let’s go.”

The two boys turned to the ladder and jogged to it, only to whirl around as something thudded onto the roof, sending vibrations through the concrete.

Connor saw black hair, tied into two messy ponytails. It was connected to a body that was in a “superhero landing” pose.

Connor looked back at the building Jinx must have jumped off to get to that position. It was two stories higher than the rooftop they were on. Connor knew that Jinx was strong, but… could people really jump two stories and remain unscathed?

Jinx looked at him, then the roof he was looking at. “Don’t try it,” she said, as if she knew what he was thinking of.

“What took you so long?” Connor asked.

“I was sleeping,” Jinx said. Although she didn't say it, he could hear the 'you idiot' part follow.

“Sleeping?” Travis echoed.

Jinx gave him a long look. “What? You know I have things to do at night. When do you think I have time to sleep? Or did you just think that I don’t need sleep?”

Travis flushed. “Oh. That makes sense.”

“Enough. What did you wake me up for?”

“I… Uh, we…”

“There’s a monster after us,” Connor blurted out.

Jinx gave him a long look. “A monster. You woke me up. For a ‘monster.’”

Connor nodded. “Yeah! He could smell us and…” Travis elbowed him and Connor trailed off as  he realized how stupid it sounded. “I… It’s real. There really is a monster after us.”

The rooftop was silent. Behind him, he could hear Travis scuffing the ground with his sneakers.

After a long moment, Jinx sighed. “Fine, let’s say monsters are real. What do you want _me_ to do about it?”

Connor blinked and looked at Travis, who shrugged at him. Honestly, Connor hadn’t thought about that. He just assumed that she could make everything better, like how she scared away all the bullies. Even David didn’t do much to him anymore.

“It seems more like the kind of job we call in the army or… superheroes… for,” Jinx said. She seemed disgusted by the thought.

Connor looked back a Travis. Jinx was right. Didn’t their mom say that their dad was a powerful man? Maybe he was powerful enough for the president to send soldiers to protect him. No matter how powerful Peter was, he wasn’t immortal or anything. If someone shot him with a bullet, even a monster would die, right?

“You’re like a superhero to us!” Travis said instead of what Connor was thinking.

It took him a moment to switch his train of thought, but Connor immediately agreed. “Yeah! You save people when other people are hurting them!” he said.

“You’re brave and heroic, and you only beat up people who deserve it,” Travis said.

“Please help?” Connor said.

Jinx squinted at them. “Fine,” she said. “Just once. One time. I’ll be a superhero tonight, but you don’t get to ask me that again.”

“Thanks, Jinx!” Connor said, bounding up to Jinx and hugging her.

She pushed them away with a glare and brushed off the sleeves of her black dress. “Hands off. This is my favorite dress.”

At that, Connor and Travis shared a glance, then rushed her and hugged her as tight as they could, ignoring her protests. After they let go, she refused to speak to them, crossing her arms and turning her nose up.

Knowing that she would forgive them soon enough, the brother merely climbed down the escape ladder and started the long path for home, feeling safe with Jinx shadowing their movements.

“Get away from them!”

The three flinched at the loud cry, spinning around, only for Jinx to be tackled by a figure much larger than her. In the darkness of the alley, it took Connor a moment to realize who it was.

“It’s him!” Connor shouted.

Jinx slugged the figure in the face, standing off and kicking it solidly at the ribs. “This is the guy that’s been giving you so much trouble?” she asked with disdain.

Looking at Peter, it was hard to see what they were so afraid of. He was a sorry sight, sitting on the ground and rubbing his cheek.

“Um, I think we were wrong,” Travis said. “Whoops, false alarm. Not a monster.” He coughed into his hand.

“Sorry, dude,” Connor said, going over to Peter and holding out his hand. “Hopefully this doesn’t make class awkward.”

Peter’s hand shot out and grabbed his wrist. “You know about the monsters,” Peter said.

Connor’s eyes widened and he tried to pull away. Peter shoved Connor behind him and stood in front of him protectively. “I won’t let you hurt them!” he shouted at Jinx.

“Um, what? Travis asked.

“Dude, she’s our friend,” Connor said with irritation. He tried to walk around Peter, only to be stopped by Peter’s outstretched arm.

“She isn’t what you think she is,” Peter said, eyes wide and pulling reed pipes from his backpack with his other hand. “You have to get away from her; she’s a monster!”

Connor exchanged looks with his brother and their friend, doubt on his face. Travis, for his part, looked angry on Jinx’s behalf. “You don’t even know her! What right do you have to call her a monster.”

“You tackled her first,” Connor reminded Peter.

Peter shoo his head. “No, no, no! She’ll eat you!” Peter said, shaking. “We have to go!”

“What’s your problem?” Jinx asked, crossing her arms and narrowing her eyes.

“Run!” Peter said, bringing his fists up in an almost comical fighting pose. Travis and Connor exchanged glances. People were always led astray by Jinx’s youth and petite size, but she was the best fighter on the streets. There was no way that crippley, wimpy Peter would be able to take her on.

“Are you quite done?” Jinx said with disinterest. She brought her hand to her face, inspecting her nails.

Then, Peter kicked off his feet.

Well, not quite.

At first, Travis had thought that he was kicking off his shoes. Then, his feet came off with it. Instead of stumps, Peter had _hooves_.

“Um…” Travis said inarticulately.

“Er…” Connor added in.

Their responses had Jinx looking up again. Her eyes widened and Travis stared. He had never seen Jinx look as surprised as she did in that moment. “What the heck?” she burst out, looking irritated.

Travis inched closer, Connor following. “Dude. What doctor messed up your surgery this badly? I mean, llama feet and human feet are entirely different things.”

“Where can you even get llama feet?” Connor wondered out loud.

“What? No, I was born this way,” Peter said.

“Your mom was a llama?” Connor asked cautiously.

“ _No_!” Peter said, looking distraught.

Travis thought for a moment. “So was it your dad that was a llama?” he questioned.

“ _Satyr_ ,” Peter pronounced clearly. “I am a _satyr_. My _parents_ are satyrs.”

A light bulb went up in Connor’s head. “You’re goat-people from Greek?”

“Greece, not Greek,” Travis corrected him.

“This world has magic,” Jinx murmured eyes glittering with delight.

Peter yelped and turned. Travis blinked. When did she get so close? He felt a pang of jealousy as Jinx looked over Peter in fascination. The only time Travis had seen her look like that was when he and Connor showed her how good they were at lockpicking on their second meeting. At least Peter didn’t seem like he was as interested in her.

“S-stay away!” the ‘satyr’ said as he scrambled away. He swung his fist weakly, but it didn’t seem like he was actually trying to hit her.

“Now why would I do that?” Jinx purred, stalking after him.

“Hey,” Connor said. “Jinx. He’s scared. Just give him a moment.”

Jinx looked at him, then turned to stare at Peter. “Fine,” she said, crossing her arms and leaning back against the building. “You have thirty seconds before I get my answers. And trust me, I always get my answers.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Join me on Discord! Together, we can rebel against the Immortals and take over the server!  
> https://discord.gg/XDyEJep

**Author's Note:**

> Congratulations, you have reached the end of what I got so far! Settle down for a long wait - I have other stories that I like more than this one. Well, one other story that I like more. Meh.


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